Which is the best CMS for simple content based websites

Yes, there is a great deal of wisdom in this, and I completely concur; my point, however, spoke to the notion of Joomla being simply a "cookie cutter" application. I don't like that distinct look either - but I can show you sites that you'd never know were Joomla sites

Conversely, I wanted to add my $.02 not to offer blind loyalty to Joomla, but to mention that I chose it for a couple of sites because I found a top notch host who supports it, and has their entire plan geared toward CMS hosting, particularly Joomla. That's a definite perk, because they are in tune with the issues that surround it, (security being one of most important) and actually provide a great deal of support for it, above and beyond what is provided by the Joomla folks.

Don't take this as any sort of debate with you, J. I completely agree with you on a number of your Joomla points. And I'm still picking up new suggestions for CMS. I haven't used CMSMS, but I'm going to go have a look after I post this.

Cheers!

 

If you can think of any off-hand (Joomla sites that don't look like them), I'd love to see them just for a better mental picture of what's being done with it.

 

http://www.grahneis.de/

Very classy Joomla site.


I have found several more, and I thought that I bookmarked them - but my "vault" isn't producing them at the moment. Seriously, I searched out a bunch of sites before installing. Initially, I was unimpressed with it, as well. But I found a few "diamonds in the rough".

Of course, the downside is that you must have a pretty firm mastery of graphic design and CSS to make your own templates.

The plus side, however, is that if you already have a compliant HTML and CSS page, you can retrofit it without too much trouble.

 

There are several other options/choices for open source CMS systems. I read through the thread but didn't see the link to the site where you can check out a variety of tools, i.e., http://www.OpenSourceCMS.com.

I would also like to throw PostNuke into the mix -- but depending on the feature set you need depends on the learning curve you'll have for each tool.

Also, here are a couple of examples of sites that are built using PN but don't look like the traditional cookie cutter templates used on CMSs.

http://www.exhibitsusa.com
http://www.ithinkmedia.com/
http://it-shop.t-com.de/

Note, these sites were created by system integrators -- so these kinds of looks don't happen without some customization (i.e., money).

Good luck in your search -- open source CMSs are a good alternative for all types of businesses and there are a variety of choices available to you depending on your needs.

Regards,

Vanessa

 

Some nice examples from both of you. I haven't tried postnuke at all yet, but the sites definitely don't look like traditional templates.

 

well i use simple machines,
here my site:
http://www.officialpimpspace.com/

i love it, there are lot of mods out there i use and i have my own modifications added to it that make it flexible and easy for users to browse.

 

On this same simple websites criteria, can anybody give me feedback of e107 and Xoops as compared to Joomla/CMSMS/Drupal?

Thanks
Sanjay